EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 8: Identify and Authenticate Users

8.6.2 No hard-coded passwords for interactive system accounts

Passwords or passphrases belonging to any application or system account capable of interactive login must never be hard coded in scripts, in configuration or property files, or in bespoke or custom source code. The guidance suggests password vaults and other system-managed controls can help. Applicability: stored passwords must be encrypted in line with Requirement 8.3.2. Objective under the customized approach: unauthorized personnel are unable to use the passwords and passphrases of application and system accounts. Future-dated: treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 8.6.2. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.

4
artefacts
2
held by a system
1
at each review
easy
to go live
Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

  • Secret scanning results for code repositories and configuration files · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
  • Secrets vault integration configuration used by applications and scripts · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Sample review of deployment scripts and property files · Source control / CI pipeline

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Secure coding standard prohibiting embedded credentials · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling. Scan schedule, findings and remediation age straight from the scanner; patch compliance from the patch console.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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8.6.1 Interactive use of system accounts controlled · 8.6.3 System account passwords protected against misuse